31st January 2020 

THE BROMSGROVIAN   

Liberation of the Holocaust Opera: Helena Citrónová   - Mark Jamjay Y10 

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Holocaust. An estimated                           5.4 to 5.8 million Jews were murdered at the hands of the Nazi forces between                             1941-1945. Thousands of Jews died every week in the death camps due to untreated                           illnesses and intentional starvation during the peak of the Holocaust. Moreover, many                       Jewish men, women and children were systematically murdered by the Nazis via gas                         chambers. Hundreds of prisoners crowded together in what seemed to be showers, only                         to see one another drop dead by the seconds due to the gas being dropped down from                                 holes in the ceiling.  On 16th of January 2020, 21 students accompanied by 6 teachers from Bromsgrove                         arrived at the Siam Cultural Center to watch the premiere of an opera named “Helena                             Citrónová” performed by the theatre company ‘Opera Siam’. Helena Citronova is an                       opera consisting of two acts accompanied by an orchestra. The opera was inspired by a                             true story of a Jewish Slovakian woman who fell in love with an SS officer in the                                 infamous Auschwitz death camp. The story follows Helena Citronova, a Jew, who was                         arrested and sent in 1942 by the Nazis to Auschwitz, for belonging to “an inferior race”.                               

 

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 During her time there she captured the attention of an SS officer named Franz Wuncsh,                             the two promptly fell in love. The compromising relationship consisting of two people                         from drastically different and conflicting worlds is the plot from which the opera draws                           its origin. Helena’s relationship with Franz became exposed among the prisoners in                       Auschwitz, eventually leading to them getting caught. Helena was isolated from the                       other prisoners in the camp and called in for questioning. Franz, on the other hand, was                               demoted and charged with the crime of “racial pollution” and treason. The two escaped                           but never saw each other ever again.   

Can you complete this word search?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 A Message from the Deputy Head Girl 

- Cathy Zhou Y13 

 

 

 

 

  

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 What's happening in Australia? 

- Amber Tarrant Y9 

 I’m sure we all know what's happening in Australia and if you don’t - Australia is on fire.                                   The bush-fires have been burning since September, and right now Australia is in the                           middle of its worst fire season - it's already claimed the lives of 28 people and killed                                 more than a billion animals. “It is             conceivable that much of Australia is simply             becoming too hot and dry for human             habitation,” said Mann, who is director of             the Earth System Science Center at           Pennsylvania State University.   I have asked a couple teachers for their opinions about the bush-fires and here's what they said:  “Although there has been bush-fires before,           these are quite different, they have been increasing in both intensity and frequency - it is                               clearly linked to climate change. Some people have said arson and this does happen. It                             is a pity that some people in positions of responsibility have been blaming other things                             other than climate change” -Mr. Urwin  “I'm shocked it has escalated so quickly, it seems something outside of human control.                           It's spreading so quickly. The loss of wildlife is quite heartbreaking really. I think a billion                               animals have died in the fires” -Mr. Smith   “I think it has to do with all the coal that Australia produces. It has the biggest coal mine                                     in the world. I actually had a visa for Australia and now I'm glad I didn't go. I heard                                     untold damage has been done to the environment - like Australia in 100 years will just                               be dessert”. -Mr. England  

 

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  “Generally I’m im devastated to see the impact it's had on Australia's animal life.                           Someone told me between 500 million and 1 billion animals have died. Also, I have                             friends and family there and the air quality is really poor. I've heard reports that some                               people started the fires, however, the park rangers are being blamed for not cleaning the                             leaves of earlier seasons. Bushfires do occur every year,so it is quite possible that it                             started naturally...but they have not been this extreme in my lifetime”. -Mr. Hart  “I've never been to Australia so it's not personally affected me, but the big thing for me                                 is seeing the animals dying. There have been many photos on social media to the                             animals reacting to their family dying, so all of this is really upsetting. It’s quite scary                               because all the things about climate change are true the firefighters are complete                         heroes”. -Mr. Paterson   As you can tell, climate change is happening rapidly! As Mrs. Nagle said, “make small                             changes to make a big difference”. I think we all need to start trying to make our world a                                     better and healthier place.   

Sudoku (level: Medium)    Complete the grid so that every row, column and every three-by-three box contains the digits 1 to 9.  

 

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Malaria - Anastasiia Zhikol Y13 

 When people hear the word Malaria, they often associate the disease with something                         that could never happen to them - and they are partially right. Malaria is present in                               Thailand, but only in rural areas near the borders with Cambodia and Myanmar, which                           leaves Bangkok and other big cities safe.   Eradicating malaria has proven to be a global challenge; the disease has been ‘known’                           since the late 1800s and it is still present in multiple countries and periodically reoccurs                             in many others. The main difficulty lies not only in the biological aspects of how the                               disease works but also in the mindsets and attitudes of the population.  What is most surprising is the way people in the affected nations view malaria - they are                                 not afraid of it. For them, malaria is a normal part of life. It is viewed the same way as                                       we see the common cold or the flu - it is normal. This presents a cultural challenge to                                   curing malaria; if people do not see it as a threat, they will not take sufficient measures                                 against it.   It is clear that there are not only financial and                   scientific challenges - education and awareness           are key elements of eradicating malaria.           Communities need to be aware of the benefits               of treatment, as it will drastically help improve               their quality of life. Already, millions of dollars               are being invested in an effort to find a solution                   by multiple companies and individuals and I             hope that someday, this illness will be             completely gone from the world.  

 

 

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Study Strategies - Rapee Limweshasin Y13 

 Exams are an inescapable route that we, as students                 have to take. But one of the main factors that separate                     the students that are struggling with their exams and                 those that are getting all A's in their exams, is their                     study technique. Based on personal experiences with             multiple exams over the past few years, whether that                 be IELTS, BMAT, IGCSE and AS levels, I’ve come across                   various exam techniques, which have both developed             my understanding of different topics and helped me               memorise the key points that I need for my exams. If                     you choose to utilise these techniques in your revision,                 I really do believe that it will help you with your study                       sessions and lead to a greater chance of success in                   your exams.  Firstly, the most important thing to remember is the                 fact that the amount of time you spend studying is                   completely up to you. You are in complete control of                   your own time. It is understandable that there are                 school events that you have to organise, family events                 that you have to attend and sports practise sessions                 you have to go to. But, if you are too invested in such                         commitments, then your academic achievement may           suffer.   Moreover, “active recall is a way of life,” said Ali Abdaal,                     a Cambridge graduate, who now works at Cambridge               as a doctor. But what is active recall? It is simply                     testing your own knowledge towards a certain topic,               

 

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 without the use of any electronic devices or coursebooks, simply just you and your                           brain. This can be done in all sorts of ways, using flash cards, putting yourself in exam                                 conditions or getting your friends to test you. The purpose of active recall is to get your                                 brain working. This has been scientifically proven by Jeffrey D. Karpicke (Department of                         Psychological Sciences, Purdue University) and Henry L. Roediger, III (Department of                     Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis) with the experiment they conducted in                       2003. The results show that students who used active recall were able to remember                           about 80% compared to 34% for the other group of students who passively went back                             through a series of cards until they learned everything again. This same research group                           did another study to compare active recall with both passive (i.e. reading) methods and                           elaborative (creating concept maps). The active recall group’s success rate, again                     outshone the others by more than 50%. Therefore, it has been scientifically proven that                           active recall is the most effective learning strategy for subjects that require a lot of                             understanding and memorisation.  Thirdly, you need to have discipline. Although the effectiveness of active recall has been                           scientifically proven, if you can’t build the discipline to go back to your flashcards over                             and over again, no matter what study technique you are using it will never be effective -                                 this is called “spaced repetition”, spacing out your study sessions along a certain period                           of time in order to ensure maximum efficiency.  Lastly, you need to trust the process. Everybody needs to learn to walk before they can                               run. If you start running to the finish line before you learn to walk, it is as if you are                                       cramming all the knowledge the night before the exam. What will happen? You will not                             reach your desired score. But what if you slowly learn to walk? What if you start revising                                 the night you know you have an exam and you keep building up your knowledge step by                                 step. You will reach the finish line like a true winner. Remember, there is no shortcut to                                 success. 

 

 

 

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Minecraft Maths Quiz You will need a calculator and a conversion table. 

1. A minecart P of mass 50kg with initial speed 7ms-1 approaches a stationary minecart Q of mass 20kg. After the collision, they stick together on impact. What is the speed of both minecarts after the collision? 

A: 21ms-1 

B: 5ms-1 

C: 17.5ms-1 

D: 2.8ms-1 

  

2. What is roughly equivalent to one Minecraft block in real life? 

A: 0.10m3 

B: 500000000cm3 

C: 706.293ft3 

D: 61023.7in3 

  

3. How tall would Steve be if he is 31 pixels tall when 1 pixel is equal to 1/16 metres? 

A: 6.3566273ft 

B: 0.002km 

C: 9.32057x10-4miles 

D: 2.3x103in 

 

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4. What is roughly equivalent to one Minecraft week in real life? Hint: The picture on the right. The outer numbers are normal hours and the inner numbers are ticks. 20 ticks = 1 second.  

A: 20 hours 

B: 6.048x108 seconds 

C: 0.09583 days 

D: 43200 minutes   

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

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 Coronavirus 

- (Auto) Mmakaranan Y9  

A new Chinese coronavirus, a cousin of the SARS virus, has infected hundreds since the                             outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Scientist Leo Poon, who first                         decoded the virus, thinks it is likely that is started in an animal and spread to humans.  What is coronavirus? Coronaviruses are a large group of           viruses that are common among         animals. In rare cases, they are           what scientists call zoonotic,       meaning they can be transmitted         from animals to humans.  How deadly is it? "What we know is it causes           pneumonia and then doesn't       respond to antibiotic treatment, which is not surprising, but then in terms of mortality,                           SARS kills 10% of the infected individuals". Poon, a virologist at the School of Public                             Health at The University of Hong Kong, said “It's not clear how deadly the Wuhan                             coronavirus will be”.  Symptoms  The viruses can make people sick, similar to a common cold. Coronavirus symptoms                         include a runny nose, cough, sore throat, possibly a headache and maybe a fever, which                             can last for a couple of days.  How does it spread?  It can spread from animal to human contact and human to human contact.    

 

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  NOW! The disease had spread from China to Thailand, Japan, SouthKorea, Taiwan and the                         USA. There is no specific treatment and there is no vaccine. At least 9 people have died                                 and nearly 400 cases have been confirmed. China has informed the world health                         organization and we still don’t know what will happen next.  Please make sure that you wash your hands and wear your protective masks during this                             danger period.  

 

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 Finding the resistance of a wire 

- Pooh Iamsuk Y12 

 On January 15th, our physics class, which consists of 7 students were instructed to                           conduct an experiment to find the relation between the resistance and the length of a                             wire.  The list of equipment required was: 

● cell (battery or power supply) ● 1 metre ruler ● wire (stuck to the ruler on both ends) ● voltmeter ● ammeter ● cables with crocodile clips ● additional cables to connect the peripherals 

 We needed to set up the experiment with the ammeter within the series circuit and the                               voltmeter around both ends of the wire. We conducted the experiment with at least 6                             different lengths and record the readings.    

 

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 The resistance can be calculated using this formula: 

 Once we were done with the experiment, we had to plot a graph with the resistance                               against the length of the wire and see how they relate.  When I was conducting my experiment, my results were always different each time, so I                             erased my results and repeated the whole experiment several times. Time started to run                           short as I rubbed off all my results after my third attempt - time ran out so I did not have                                         enough time to re-do my experiment for more reliable results, and I was recommended                           to plot a graph and write an experiment write up as my homework for this experiment.                               Possible things that might have affected the inconsistency of my results could have                         been; dirty contacts causing the measurement readings to fluctuate, and this could have                         been solved by cleaning the contacts.The ammeter or voltmeter scale might not have                         been sensitive enough, and a solution to this is to use a digital meter instead. Moreover,                               it is possible that the wires were not straight, and this could have been solved by taping                                 both ends of the wires more tightly to the ruler.  In conclusion, I could have ensured better results by doing what was previously                         mentioned above, if I were to do this again, or if any of you are to do this experiment in                                       the near future, make sure to eliminate any result fluctuations.  Moral of the story: Never rub off your experiment results and always remember Ms.                           Lowry’s quote: “Electronics never work”.   

 

 

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